Optical networks encode signals onto light to transmit information to its destination via fiber optic cables. Optical networks have become extremely popular because of their high bandwidth capabilities, and are often used by service providers for delivering services, such as cable television, high-speed Internet, telephone, etc., to customers. Traditionally, fiber optic networks were used in a portion of the network, and other communication mediums were used to connect the customer premises to the network. Recently, network service providers have been installing fiber optic cables all the way to the customer premises, allowing for better quality of service.
One type of optical network is a passive optical network. A passive optical network uses optical splitters and couplers to separate signals and deliver the signals to their proper destinations. Commonly, a passive optical network includes a central optical line terminal (OLT) that is connected with a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) via an optical distribution network (ODN) including optical fibers connected by optical splitters and couplers. A single OLT may communicate with multiple ONUs in a point-to-multipoint configuration. The OLT may broadcast downstream signals to the ONUs, and organize upstream communication from the ONUs to the OLT using time-domain multiple access (TDMA).
Technicians servicing passive optical networks may travel to various locations of the ODN, and check optical power levels at those locations, to ensure that optical signals are propagating to their destinations with acceptable optical loss. Both average optical power levels and peak optical power levels may be measured and recorded and compared against thresholds to determine whether the power levels of the optical signals are within acceptable tolerances.